Israel’s Foreign Ministry has appointed a Druse Arab poet as ambassador to Oslo and named an Arab career diplomat as his deputy, as part of an uphill battle to win over Norwegian public opinion, largely critical of Israel.

An eruption of violence against illegal immigrants and Arabs is causing growing concern and controversy in Israel.

An anti-refugee protest in Tel Aviv last week turned into a 1,000-strong riot in which Africans were attacked on the streets. At the rally, Likud Knesset member Miri Regev said that illegal immigrants were a “cancer”.